Microsoft and Google have resolved their differences in the on going lawsuit …

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According to a recent article from Forbes, two of the largest tech titans have resolved their legal differences. Unfortunately that means that Kai-Fu Lee's holiday break will come to an end, and he'll have to return to work.

It all started with an innocent chair being tossed through the air, and later escalated into a heated legal battle over Mr. Lee jumping ship to Google, Microsoft's Internet search and advertising competitor. Microsoft took action by slapping Google with a lawsuit that stated:

...Lee's contract prohibited him from taking a job with a competitor within a year of leaving Microsoft and accused Google of "intentionally assisting" Lee. "Google is fully aware of Lee's promises to Microsoft, but has chosen to ignore them, and has encouraged Lee to violate them,"...

Not one to back down from a fight, Google returned the favor:

contending that Microsoft's clause was "clearly an illegal restraint of trade" since it violated laws in California, where Google is based, giving workers the right to change jobs.

The final outcome of the five month lawsuit has come to, "mutual satisfaction." Though the details of the settlement are confidential, Mr. Lee was quoted saying that he was, "pleased with the terms of the settlement agreement." If the Opera rumor hadn't turned out to be true, we could speculate that Microsoft's part of the settlement was to let them purchase Opera instead of Google. Maybe it's time to start another rumor...